Avoidance of AI-empowered digital service assistants in fashion shopping: The negative side of personalized recommendation of chatbots

While people often resist suggestions when their autonomy is challenged, the reluctance to use chatbot services due to perceived threats to freedom of choice remains unexplored. Based on psychological reactance theory, this study investigates the effects of personalized recommendations by AI chatbots, focusing on how they could lead to chatbot avoidance. An online survey collects data from 186 participants who had experience using chatbot services during online shopping. The results of bootstrapping analysis show that personalized recommendations by chatbots increase avoidance behavior, serially mediated by perceived threats to freedom and negative affect. The study also finds the interplay effect of the personalized recommendations of chatbots and fashion involvement on the threat to freedom. When consumers have low fashion involvement, personalized recommendations by a chatbot decrease the threat of freedom. However, when consumers have high fashion involvement, the personalized recommendations of chatbots increase their perceptions of the threat of freedom. This research contributes to the understanding of negative consumer responses to AI chatbots in retail, offering insights into how personalized recommendations can be perceived as intrusive and impact consumer acceptance negatively.